Because of the wrath of Jehovah it is not inhabited, And it hath been a desolation, all of it. Every passer by at Babylon is astonished, And doth hiss because of all her plagues.

Because of the wrath of the Lord no one will be living in it, and it will be quite unpeopled: everyone who goes by Babylon will be overcome with wonder, and make sounds of fear at all her punishments.

Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, But it shall be wholly desolate; Every one that goeth by Babylon Shall be appalled and hiss at all her plagues.

By the wrath of the Lord, it will not be inhabited. Instead, it will be entirely desolate. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be stupefied and will hiss over all her wounds.

Ab indignatione Jehovae non habitabitur (hoc est, praee indignatione, aut, propter indignationem,) et erit vastitas tota; quisquis transierit per Babylonem stupebit, et sibilabit super omnibus plagis ejus.

Jeremiah again repeats that the destruction of Babylon would be an evidence of God's vengeance, because the Chaldeans had unjustly raged against the Church. But the name of God seems also to have been designedly mentioned, that the faithful might more readily receive this prophecy: for had they thought that what Jeremiah said came from man, they would have hardly believed his words, for what he said exceeded the comprehension of men. He then mentioned the indignation of God, that the faithful might know that it was absurd to form an opinion concerning the ruin of Babylon according to the present aspect of things, because God would do a work there beyond the common course of things. He then says, that it would become a waste, so that every one passing through it would be astonished, and yet would not pity it. This way of speaking often occurs in the Prophets, when they wish to describe a waste exceeding what is common. In the meantime, what follows ought to be noticed, that this arrangement would excite no commiseration, but rather mockery, which the Prophet denotes by the word hissing. It then follows, --

Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, (n) and hiss at all her plagues.
(n) In sign of contempt and disdain.

Because of the wrath of the Lord, it shall not be inhabited,.... That is, Babylon; which the Targum expresses,
"because thou, Babylon, hast provoked the Lord;''
by their idolatry, luxury, ill usage of his people, and profanation of the vessels of the sanctuary; therefore it should be destroyed, and left without an inhabitant in it:
but it shall be wholly desolate; as it now is. Pausanias says (o), in his time there was nothing but a wall remaining; and Jerom (p) says, he had it from a brother Elamite, or Persian, that Babylon was then a park or place for royal hunting, and that beasts of every kind were kept within its walls: of mystical Babylon, see Revelation 16:19;
everyone that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues; any traveller that had seen it in its glory would now be astonished to see the desolation of it; and, by way of scorn and derision, hiss at the judgments of God upon it, and rejoice at them, and shake their head, as the Targum.
(o) Arcadica, sive l. 8. p. 509. (p) Comment. in Isaiam, fol. 23. C.

(Isaiah 13:20).